From the magazine

Answering back

Luke McShane
EXPLORE THE ISSUE 22 March 2025
issue 22 March 2025

The vast majority of winning blows in chess are delivered by a piece moving forwards. Powerful retreating moves are rare, but the very fact of going against the grain makes an aesthetic impact. Played for purely strategic reasons, such moves are all the more admirable, so I was duly impressed by a move played in the Varsity Match earlier this month. Ashvin Sivakumar, representing Oxford, holds the advantage, with pressure in the centre and the kingside, but it’s not obvious how to move forward. There’s the rub! By retreating his bishop from e3 to c1, he reroutes it to b2 to bear down on the kingside from afar – a fact which proves decisive a few moves later.

Ashvin Sivakumar (Oxford) – Cameron Goh (Cambridge)

Varsity Chess Match, March 2025

27 Bc1! Rhc8 28 Bb2 One future idea, which dovetails perfectly with the Bb2, is Nf4-h3-g5+. It is crucial that the Bb4 remains on the sidelines. 28…c4? Seeking counterplay is natural, but it was better to sit tight with 28…Rf8 29 Bxc4 Bxc4 30 bxc4 Rxc4 31 Rxc4 Nxc4 32 Nd5 Qe6 33 Nf6+ A strategic triumph for the Be3-c1-b2 manoeuvre. The kingside collapses, and White mops up easily. Kg7 34 Nxh5+ Kf8 35 Bg7+ Ke7 36 Nf4 Qc8 37 Qg5+ Kd7 38 Qd5 Qg8 39 Bd4 f5 40 Qxg8 Rxg8 41 exf5 Bd2 42 Nxg6 Rb8 43 h5 Rb3 44 Rxd2 Nxd2 45 h6 Black resigns.

Masterful stuff! And yet, though 27 Bc1! was deft, I discovered that the brutish 27 Bxf7! was even better. After 27…Qxf7 28 Rxd6 Black’s position collapses, e.g. 28…Bc8 29 Qg5! Re8 30 Nxg6 Nxg6 31 Qh6+ and wins. Sometimes you need a battering ram, not a lockpick.

This win helped Oxford to take an early lead in the 143rd Varsity match, which took place earlier this month at the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall, London. Oxford’s top board Tom O’Gorman also distinguished himself by winning his fifth game in a row in the Varsity series. But Cambridge fought back later on, including a crucial win in the game below. The narrow 4.5-3.5 win for Cambridge extends their lead in the historic series, by 61 wins to 59, with 23 draws.

Ilya Misyura (Cambridge) – Imogen Camp (Oxford)

Varsity Chess Match, March 2025

59 Rxf7 Spurning a perpetual with 59 Ra8+, and posing a problem – which rook to recapture? The answer is 59…Rxf7! After 60 Re4 Bd5 61 Rxd4 Rf3+ 62 Kh2 Ra3 should lead to a draw. 59…dxe3? Tempting, but there is a surprise in store. 60 Be7+ This Zwischenzug (in-between move) wins a pawn and the game. Kc8 61 Rxf1 Bxf1 62 Bxg5 e2 63 Bd2 e1=Q+ There is no other way to release the bishop. Were Bf1-d3 possible without losing this pawn, the endgame would be drawn. 64 Bxe1 Kb7 65 Kf4 Ka6

66 Ke5 Bc4 67 g5 Bd5 68 g6 Kb5 69 Bf2 Kxa5 70 g7 Ka6 71 Kd6 Kb7 72 Ke7

Kc8 73 Kf8 Black resigns

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